Gaia's Final Flames of Hope
by GomuGomuRasenganNoSage
Summary: A single word was all it took for Naruto to be whisked away from the Kage Summit... Now having to hold the guilt that all his comrades have died will he ever be able to live without them? Especially when there's a world that needs saving!
1. The Beginning Before the Start

**Gaia's Final Flames of Hope Chapter One: the Beginning before the Start**

**A/N: So here it is the promised Naruto x FFVII crossover! I actually received the challenge from Mzr90, Hope you enjoy! **

_Relief._

One of the many emotions Naruto felt as his eyes stared into the almost lifeless eyes of the Sharingan with one of his signature jutsu, the Rasengan, shoved into his former teammate's body. It had taken tons of convincing on all of the Kages part and his friends but he knew it had to be done.

_Sorrow._

Another emotion that shook Naruto's very heart to the brim, He knew it , all participants in the upcoming war knew it, and maybe even the dying Sasuke himself realized that this had to be done. Sasuke had to be killed, he had journeyed to far into the path of darkness, but this time he had long forgotten the road back to the light.

_Pain._

Something Naruto felt physically throughout his whole entire body. He and Sasuke had an intense battle, probably one of the most thrilling and difficult battles he had ever participated in before. But it wasn't only the pain that built up as the battle continued; Naruto could feel that stray lightning of the Chidori brush across his bruised chest. He had taken the Chidori directly and while he could tell that it wouldn't kill and that in some given time Kurama could heal it still felt like he was dying.

The Kage Summit had made a huge turn in the wrong direction as Sasuke invaded, Gaara the Kazekage, A the Raikage, and Mei the Mizukage had all failed to defeat the Uchiha. This had lead to the "Reunion" of Team 7, and then the battle between Naruto and Sasuke. It had all come down to a single Rasengan and a single Chidori. It was as if time had repeated itself as the same exact event which had happened about 3 years prior happened once more but this time Sasuke had lost… everything.

Naruto Uzumaki honestly didn't know what to think as his head was filled with the mix emotions of killing his friend. His orange tattered jumpsuit flew freely in the wind showing the aftermath of the battle. Lifting his head to look behind him he could see Kakashi having a solemn look on his face but one of understanding.

As if in slow-motion Sasuke's lifeless body fell, his eyes still in Sharingan form closing for a final time. But Naruto didn't have time to remorse over his fallen ex-comrades as his eyes made contact with the familiar orange spiral mask and one eye of Tobi otherwise "Madara Uchiha" as Tobi had self-acclaimed him.

He didn't even have a chance to speak as a single word made its way to his ear:

"Kamui."

And as if he never had an existence in their world he disappeared.

-Break-

"Where am I?" Naruto questioned as he stared into the dark abyss. His eyes than landed on the orange fur of the Kyubi who stared at him seriously.

"**Naruto." **The deep voice of the Tailed Beast called to the blond. Naruto hesitated before speaking thinking about it he hadn't really heard the beast of chakra call him by his actual name.

"Oh it's you…" Naruto drawled. "Where are we?" The blond asked after his short pause.

"**The Kamui, a separate world from the one you're use to." The **Kyubi seriously explained before continuing. **"It's usually an inescapable dimension." **

"So you mean we're stuck here forever?" Naruto asked in silent shock, he could feel his throat become lumpy, already feeling waves of guilt wash down on him. The war would continue whether he was there or not Tsunade had told him that it was better if he was hidden so that "Madara" couldn't get his hands of the Nine Tailed Beast.

"**Not exactly, there's one technique I inherited from the Jubi. It's a space time technique one that lets me cross these worlds except the one where chakra originally came from. Also there has to be a source of energy I have to pull onto." **The Tailed beast continued the explanation.

Naruto, nodded with a slight frown on his face. The technique made sense but it probably took huge amounts of chakra in order to perform it, the Tailed Beast were just masses of chakra to begin with so for creatures like them it was far from being farfetched.

"But if you need to use too much chakra doesn't that mean you'll die." Naruto spoke allowing the dimension to make an echoing effect oddly. Kurama gave a nod before once again giving his wise information.

"**That's a side-effect… but there's a very low possibility that I could survive but whether I'll be sent with you or somewhere else is random." **The Kyubi solemnly informed. "**Listen… You may have been some brat and I hated to have you as my container but I guess for now we'll have to work together to get out of here."**

Naruto nodded, he didn't like it but it was better than being stuck here. Though he could feel the tides of his waves of guilt rise much higher, yet again the Uzumaki was the possible cause of another death. Yea so maybe this Biju was the cause of his childhood turning out the way it did but it wasn't solely his fault all the Biju just had bad reputations for some reason. Plus Tailed Beast were living to they deserved to live as much as anyone else.

So with a strong look he walked up to his… comrade and raised his right fist up in the air towards the direction of the beast.

"I guess it was nice knowing you partner." Naruto said with a foxy smirk on his face. Kurama simply looked at the raised fist solemnly before growing a foxy smirk of his own, one that actually fit him since he was… well a fox Tailed Beast. Extending the fist up in the air towards the direction of the beast.

Then abruptly, the abyss lit up in the color of a vibrant red before settling on a light green that oddly emitted a warm friendly aura. Strands of the green aura danced around the blond still emitting warm vibes.

"**See ya… partner."** Were the last words of the Kurama before Naruto Uzumaki felt himself being engulfed by the green energy.

-Break-

Naruto's eyes fluttered open, or at least they tried to open. As soon as he opened them he was forced to automatically close them since he wasn't adjusted to the light, or more generally his surroundings.

He could tell he was laid on a long wooden bed wrapped up in covers, beneath the layers of sheet he could feel that his tattered jumpsuit was no longer being worn, replaced by several wrappings of bandages and tacky clothes.

After his eyes finally had adjusted Naruto opened his eyes and scanned his surroundings. The blond was in a small room; next to the bed he was laying in was a piano and chair seat, while the floor was decorated in wooden tiles, Nothing to flashy or unique just average.

Naruto sighed as he remembered the events that had taken place prior to him waking up just now.

It was then that he heard the sound of a bit of shuffling coming from down the steps.

Naruto simply moved to go downstairs, it obvious that whoever had brought him here were going to look at him. He wasn't sure if they were friend or foe but if they had gone to the trouble of patching his wounds and putting him in a bed they must've been nice people.

"Oh…" Naruto heard the feminine voice once more only this time much closer to him. "You're awake…"

Naruto looked down the steps to see a girl just around his age; she had dark, brown long hair which stopped at about her waist styled in a dolphin split. She wore a cowgirl outfit which consisted of a white shirt and brown vest, a small leather skirt which did little to hide her noticeable long legs and large breasts. Complimenting her face were a red pair of eyes and white teardrop earrings. Most people would only use one word to describe her though… simply sexy.

Naruto casually scratched his head as the silence grew longer and even more awkward with each passing second.

"Uh Yo?" Naruto said in a questioning tone. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki." He greeted awkwardly.

"Tifa Lockheart." The now known Tifa said introducing herself, she moved towards the kitchen of the house motioning him to follow. "So how'd you end up on Nibelheim's mountain? I found you collapsed near the Mako reactor." The girl questioned raising an eyebrow as the two of them sat down.

"Nibelheim Mountain? Mako?" Naruto questioned before realizing that he should have shut his mouth, any cover up he had was all screwed now. "I'm not familiar with this place; I come from a… village which is far away from civilization."

Tifa's red eyes looked at the blond curiously. It was understandable to not know about but not knowing what a Mako Reactor was just weird, she would let it slip for now.

"This town is Nibelheim it's just below , I found you collapsed there." She said explaining to him before taking another good look at the blond and taking a look at his glowing blue eyes. "Are you a SOLDIER?" She asked.

"Soldier?" The blond questioned raising an eyebrow. He could see Tifa look at him with curiosity once again.

The brunette looked at him as if she was about to ask him a question before the sound of approaching footsteps near the door was heard. The door slowly opened to reveal a middle-aged man walk in with a stern look on his face as he looked at the blond.

"So you've woken up." He simply said as he walked in. "We almost thought you wouldn't make it alive, you injuries were pretty severe Mr…"

"Naruto Uzumaki but Naruto's just fine." Naruto stated rubbing his head sheepishly. "I recover from severe wounds pretty quickly." He informed putting a grin on his face.

What Naruto said would've made sense had he still had the Kyubi with him but he didn't, yet if his wounds were severe why did they heal so quickly.

'Maybe that green light has something to do with it.' Naruto thought before casting the thought to the side.

"Anyways I'm Tifa's father Brian Lockheart." The man introduced giving a kind smile, Naruto simply nodded before his stomach rumbled loudly causing Tifa to sweat drop at the action. "I guess I'll make lunch then." Brian simply informed.

The father of Tifa slowly moved to the kitchen before he turned to take a look at the calendar, his eyes scanned across the dates before his eyes came across a dates which was circled in red pen.

_September 21, 0002_

"Remember Tifa you have to show those two SOLDIER to the Reactor in a month or so."

"You're a tour guide?" Naruto questioned and received his answer in the form of a nod. "Would you mind if you showed me up to to where you found me?"

Once again her red eyes looked at Naruto curiously for a second contemplating the idea for a second before once again nodding and heading towards the door to exit the house.

Now that he was outside the blond had a better view at the town as well as the time. The sun was about halfway into the sky, showing that it was around noon, and was blazing across the cloudless sky. Shorts breezes of wind blew in once every few minutes.

Overall it was a pretty hot day.

The town was pretty small catering a few shops and a few houses. Up the northern side of the town one could see the outline of the mountains. Towards the upper-west part of Nibelheim was what appeared to be an old mansion which gave an eerie, gloomy look to it as it had a rusty entrance gates and what appeared to be very old wood lining the walls.

"No funny business alright?" Tifa mockingly questioned with a small smirk on her face before adopting a neutral look.

"I can't make any promises." Naruto mockingly replied plastering a smirk of his own on his face before quickly removing it as well allowing an awkward silence to arise.

Don't get them wrong they didn't want to come off as weird or unhappy but they had different problems all together.

It was only a few years ago when Tifa had suffered the grief of losing her mother, before that she was friends with almost everyone in the village her age… well everyone but one boy. Ever since her mother was lost she had become very secluded and after a while she had stopped talking with all her friends. But there was still that one boy who she ended up actually becoming friends with but he left to join SOLDIER shortly after that and he was never seen afterwards. She was pretty lonely since then and to her maybe that was a good thing grief wasn't something she wanted to taste a second time.

Naruto on the other hand now had to carry the extra baggage of guilt on him. Now that he no longer existed in his original world, "Madara Uchiha's" plan was useless and the blond had a odd hunch that the Uchiha would not even spare a single person in the approaching war… and it was all his fault he was too focused on the death of his ex-comrade to even realize that Tobi was right behind him. It didn't make sense to the blond since the Kyubi was a necessary part to his plan but he didn't care honestly. There was no way to go back and he would have to face the guilt that weighed a ton.

The fear of grief and the burden of guilt… two concepts which constantly would clash in a person's head.

Both Naruto and Tifa were so wrapped up in their thoughts that it hadn't occurred to them that they had worked their way passed the creepy mansion and to the edge of the town. There was a pretty good view of the now along with a pretty good view of the town.

Both still silent turned their backs to Nibelheim and journeyed forward to the rough part of the region.

"Watch your steps sometimes some monsters roam the mountains." Tifa informed as she continued her quick pace in front of the Uzumaki.

"Monsters?" Naruto asked rounding up his total questions the whole day to six.

Tifa stopped in her tracks, her ruby red eyes filled with mirth before moving into an "odd" position. She bent her upper body down a little put her intertwined hands behind her back and closed one eye with a smile giving off a suggestive pose.

"You didn't think I'd really fall for you bad lie, did you?" She questioned seeing the blond's eye twitch as he moved to scratch his head sheepishly.

He wasn't that bad at lying was he?

-Break-

Naruto sighed as Tifa finished explaining every small bit of information regarding where he was. He had found out that he was living on The Planet otherwise known as Gaia. It was pretty weird seeing as she described the planet as an actual living beings but he shrugged it off as he was just hearing it wrong.

The Uzumaki had also been told that a company called Shinra had made reactors around the planet in order retrieve an energy source known as Mako. It was used as the main source of energy supply to operate almost everything that built most of their society. Not only had that but Shinra had personal uses for it.

Mako was injected into people who wish to enter SOLDIER, Shinra's elite fighting force, which allowed them to do things normal humans couldn't think of doing. Another result of the Mako infusion was obtaining glowing eyes. Naruto had kept the cerulean blue color and gained the glowing eyes.

So with all that out of the way it was now Naruto's turn to answer the question.

"So what was the name of the village you came from?" Tifa questioned turning her head to Naruto once more as she walked along the wobbly bridge. You think she would tell Naruto about the planet they lived on and not think something was up?

"Konoha…" Naruto said lying through his teeth; she simply continued to look at him before turning her head away.

The blond and brunette found a calming silence arise once more as continued along the wooden bridge before them. It was silent for a small while at least.

"Ah!" Tifa shrieked as she took a wrong step on a broken piece of wood, at her pace it was enough so that her foot wouldn't get caught but it only led to a worse result. She tripped causing the bridge to tilt towards the side and her to fall off. Luckily for her Naruto had quick reflexes, so quickly grabbing her hand she was safe.

"Are you sure you're the number one tour guide in Nibelheim?" Naruto mockingly questioned. A grin plastered on to his face seeing a vein grow on Tifa's head before the irritated brunette continued down the mountain path with a blond, whose grin showed victory following close behind.

-Break-

"Well here we are." Tifa simply said as they reached their destination. Moving her hand she pointed to a small human shaped crater in the ground which seemed fairly new due to the fact that they edges were smooth; this showed that the crater had yet to be majorly eroded.

"So this is where I landed huh?" Naruto questioned silently to himself as his tilted his head.

"Landed?" Tifa asked, raising an eyebrow at the blond's words.

"Nothing, anyway what's this?" Naruto said asking another question to change the topic.

His attention was brought to what appeared to be a large metal building with several pipes leading into and out of the building. It also had a steel base and structure to it. It seemed to give off a very industrial tone to it but to Naruto it felt _warm _just as warm as the green light that had engulfed him previously.

"That's a Mako Reactor but apparently some members of SOLDIER are coming to inspect it." Tifa informed, she raised an eyebrow as Naruto simply nodded and walked forward to the building slowly. "I wouldn't think about entering it, it's off limits by Shinra."

Naruto looked at the building once more before turning away. He wanted to see why he felt attracted to the building but he didn't even want to think about what would happen if a whole organization was after him. He'd get his chance; he'd just have to wait.

-Break-

The town was given a dim glowing light thanks to the light the full moon gave as it stretched across the sky giving a serene tone to the town. Most shops were closed and right about now almost every single one of the town's current residents were asleep… except two.

As quietly as possible Tifa slowly opened the entrance door to her house. The lights were off so that was good sign. Ushering her hand forward Tifa signaled Naruto to enter.

"You do know how late it is." A familiar voice said causing both Naruto and Tifa to stop in their tracks. Naruto and Tifa began sweating bullets as Brian approached them.

Well that would make 3 people currently awake.

"You weren't doing "anything" with him were you?" Brian said raising a suspicious eyebrow to both of them. It wouldn't take an idiot to understand why he was adding extra emphasis to "anything."

"N-No!" Both stuttered in unison with a flustering tone. The two raised their hands and waved them frequently as if to prove their point. The male Lockheart looked at both of them still retaining his raised eyebrow before he shook his head and moved away from them to head upstairs.

"Just don't stay up too long." He stated before disappearing up the stairs.

Naruto yawned as he stretched his arms up before his stomach rumbled shortly afterwards. You really couldn't blame him he hadn't eaten since he had woken up.

"Well we don't really have anything but cooked leftovers and sandwiches." Tifa informed as she opened the fridge. Moving on after that she opened a pantry filled with several things such as sauces, spices, etc. She dug deep in past that stuff till she pulled out a cylinder object with a title that was all too familiar with Naruto.

A second later the cup was out of Tifa hands and into the blond's. If ramen was on Gaia, Naruto was going to enjoy it to the fullest.

-Break-

A small wooden door opened up revealing a middle sized room which consisted of a small bed, a small wooden drawer and a few newspaper articles scattered across the floor.

Naruto could barely make it out any of the newspaper as Tifa scrapped the articles up but he could vividly make out one single title.

_Latest SOLDIER additions_

"It's not much but this is the best we have." Tifa explained as she took a look at the newspaper articles a final time before casting them aside on the small drawer.

"No problem Tifa-chan!" Naruto casually said with a grin, Tifa raised an eyebrow at the suffix added to her name but shrugged it off. "Night." The blond said as he put himself into the small bed. He didn't get a response thought only the sound of the door slamming shut.

On the other side of the door Tifa slumped down beside it and leaned against it to support her weight.

She had no idea why she felt happy that she had saved the blond, maybe she was starting to feel a little too lonely. It was the first time she had even opened up to anyone even a little bit in a few years, except another blond who left to join SOLDIER. She was completely confused…

"Goodnight Naruto." She quietly said before walking away. As she walked into her bed room her eyes that were covered by her heavy eyelids caught something towards the corner of the room. A basket filled with several glowing orbs.

…She'd give him the materia tomorrow.

**A/N: And that's a wrap… How was it? I tried to focus a little more on Naruto and Tifa's characters and there is some obvious reason for this if you haven't caught it re-read the chapter. I'll give only one hint, Final Fantasy 7 was based on Loss, Grief, and Guilt and overcoming it. Keep that in mind.**

**More of Naruto's current status will be revealed as the story continues as well as many things that still have explaining to do.**

**As for Tifa, don't be mad at me for making Tifa seems lonely because if you think about it she's a really locked up person. She bottles up her feelings and really doesn't pour them out unless necessary for now anyways.**

**Don't get me wrong Naruto and Tifa won't always act like that they both want to be happy but as I've said Grief and Guilt constantly clash in a person's head.**

**If you haven't noticed already this story will be Naruto x Tifa… for now anyways as things are up in the air for now.**

**Lastly, I'll be focusing on this story a little bit so don't be surprised if I pump out another chapter or two.**

**I guess that's all for now really… Make sure to leave some support it'll be greatly appreciated! See ya!**

**Update Schedule:**

**Gaia's Final Flames of Hope (One or two chapters)**

**Guardian Soul in-between What Lies Within**

**Guiding the Way**

**Naruto x To-Love-Ru (Unsure)**


	2. Before Crisis

**Gaia's Final Flames of Hope Chapter Two: Before Crisis**

**A/N: An amazing amount of support so far! Thanks so much! **

"Normal talking."

'Thoughts'

"**Tailed Beast/Summons Talking"**

'**Tailed Beast/Summons Thinking'**

Naruto stretched his tired arms up in the air as he yawned. Looking out the corner of his eyes into the small window situated next to him was the sky which was barely lit up by a small tint of blue signifying that it was only just starting to become dawn.

With nothing better to do the blond stood up from the futon on the floor and walked out the guest room.

The Uzumaki took a deep breath as he closed his eyes in order in order to enter a concentrative state. He could still sense the vast chakra he had flowing across his chakra coils… that was a good sign but the only difference was that the chakra had gained a slightly green color to it but mainly it retained its blue color.

He simply looked around seeing what to do, as he could tell that no one was awake, till his eyes landed on a slightly illuminated basket. The blond moved closer into it to find over a dozen small orbs varying in the colors of green, red, and yellow.

He picked up a single one and scanned it with a raised eyebrow; it had a small bit of chakra in it. As odd as it was he could feel it pulsing slightly towards the direction of his bellybutton, where the Kyubi had once been sealed inside of him.

The blond gently pushed it into his bellybutton and was surprised to see into sink in till it had disappeared. That wasn't the only thing that had happened though as a he felt a small thought run right through his mind.

_Futon (Wind Style)_

The blond grinned as he opened his palm and easily manifested a Rasengan in his hands… He was definitely going to have a lot of fun with this.

-Break-

As the blond finished testing each and every single of the small orbs he had found out several things; firstly all of the orbs contained a categorized number of jutsu mainly categorized by elements. For example the Futon orb allowed him to use any of the wind element techniques he had learned.

_**Green (Offensive Techniques):**_

_Futon (Wind Style)_

_Katon (Fire Style (Which was odd since he had never once learned a single Fire Jutsu))_

_Mokuton (Wood Style (Once again odd))_

_Neutral (Any other non-elemental techniques)_

_**Yellow (Command Techniques):**_

_Fuinjutsu (Sealing Arts (Odd))_

_Kage Bunshin (Shadow Clone)_

_Senjutsu (Sage Arts)_

_Sexy technique (Yes it was actually there)_

_**Red (Summoning Technique):**_

_Toads_

He hadn't got a chance to test many of them since he was worried about the damage he could do on the house but the facts that he still had all of them and more was nerve wrecking; he couldn't wait to begin training in the use of them.

Throughout the course of testing them not only had he been able to differentiate the orbs from one another, he had found out that the area where his bellybutton had been would only hold up to two of the orbs at a time, not much but he would have to work on it.

It was then at the time that the Uzumaki heard approaching footsteps from behind him, turning around the blond could easily catch glimpses of Tifa's brown hairs swaying as she walked towards him.

"So you already found your materia." Tifa said before taking a chance to yawn, displaying that she had just woken up.

"Materia?" Naruto asked, tilting his head in the process.

"Yea the thing you use to activate your magic." She explained raising an eyebrow at his strange question. By this point Naruto would be a fool if he tried lying that he was from this "Konoha" place on Gaia, Tifa didn't know where exactly he came from but he was simply just out of this world.

"You mean jut- never mind." The Uzumaki began before stopping himself abruptly, his eye slightly twitched at the word magic. The term was probably just how they referred to their techniques, but even then a ninja had great pride in their jutsu calling it some type of magic was offensive.

Naruto quickly took the chance to stand up from his spot on the floor and rustled his clothes off. Speaking of clothes…

"Hey what ever happened to my clothes?" Naruto asked raising an eyebrow to support his question. He had just thought about his original attire for the first time. There weren't any important weapons since he had drained his supply against Sasuke so the thought never really crossed his mind.

Tifa merely pointed to a small closet to her left and moved away from it to allow him to open it.

"Eh?"

Naruto's jaw dropped at the sight before him, his jumpsuit wasn't even hanging on a hanger it was in a small box ripped to almost absolute shreds. Most of the notable features of it were gone leaving only the orange fabric.

His fight with Sasuke couldn't have been that terrible right?

Well after quickly getting over his shock Naruto looked at the fabric before shaking his head… something wasn't right, something was missing. The jumpsuit was there alright but there was something else. After thinking it over again the blond now even felt that he was missing something, but what?

"Oh yea, I almost forgot." Tifa said before moving into the closet, she swiftly pushed hangers from side to side before pulling out an object and letting it dangle in her hand.

Naruto felt like face palming at his actions, how could he forget his hi-ate?

He gently took it from her hands and placed it around his forehead, adjusting it slightly so that it was on perfectly.

The blond grinned and stifled a quick laugh before frowning slightly. As if he had never put it on, Naruto removed the forehead protector and looked at the insignia on it solemnly. Konoha's symbol. Without a second's notice the blond gripped the item tightly and walked out, leaving Tifa to only raise an eyebrow at his actions.

-Break-

After a nice hot bath and an average breakfast Naruto could be found following Tifa out the door with a very plain expression on his face. Now that he was outside he could feel the sun's glorious light beaming across his face.

"Why are you following me?" Tifa asked as she slowed her pace to stand next to the blond. The Uzumaki simply shrugged his shoulders; he wasn't really a citizen in Nibelheim. He was more like a tourist who was staying for an indefinite time. "Well I'm not really going to any place interesting, just my Master's Dojo."

Naruto grinned, "So you must know how to fight then right?" Naruto asked; the blond loved a good fight, not necessarily life or death match like the ones with a certain Uchiha, ones that let him cut back and let loose while having fun.

Tifa made no remark to his statement as she just suddenly kept walking till she reached a small house. Without even knocking she entered to reveal a slightly large room, with white tapings making a large rectangle in the middle of the room.

"Master Zangan?" Tifa called out in the room. "Guess he's not here then."

She looked around the room, as if to find any traces of her master, before out of pure instincts raising a wide open palmed hand to catch a quick punch.

Naruto removed his fist with a smirk, "So you do know how to fight."

"You idiot any sane person would've-" The brunette would have continued talking if a swift legs hadn't swept herself off her feet and as quick as a flash her butt had landed on the floor with a resounding thud.

"Sorry but you left your defenses wide open there." Naruto apologized while sheepishly scratching his head. His demeanor quickly changed as the blond raised his hands in defense and frantically waved his hands in defense. Tifa stood up from the ground with an eye that twitched frequently.

He was fucked.

As soon as Naruto felt a tug on the tacky clothes he was wearing and his feet leave the floor he knew that exact statement was true. Had he had no idea at this point the Tifa was a fighter or not he sure would've known she was one now. With tremendous strength the brunette launched Naruto into the makeshift fighting area hard.

As he landed the Uzumaki looked on in surprise seeing Tifa in mid-air with a reeled back fist ready to stomp down on Naruto's face. Well it was a good thing he was a practiced ex-shinobi. Putting those skills to good work the blond quickly rolled out the way just in time as Tifa's fist collided with the floor the exact second he dodged her attack. But the blond wasn't done as he saw another weak point in Tifa's defense.

Before the brunette could even blink a smoothly operated roundhouse kick removed her hand from its connection on the floor and seeing as the rest of her body was up in the air it was safe to say she wasn't going to have a nice fall to the ground.

Naruto chuckled seeing Tifa rub her aching head for a few seconds before reeling back a fist in his direction. Quickly though the brunette's attention turned away from the blond to the sidelines where she saw a familiar face.

"Master Zangan!" Tifa suddenly shouted before quickly bowing.

The now confirmed Zangan appeared to be an old man with gray hair along with a gray beard and mustache to match. For attire he wore a brown tunic along with a cape.

"Ah, Tifa I was wondering who was causing some noise." The martial arts master said before lining his sight with Naruto. "And I don't believe I've met you."

"Naruto Uzumaki and don't forget it!" The blond shouted with a grin before giving a thumb up. He really hadn't done that "Nice guy" pose in a while.

"So you must be a friend of Tifa, I hadn't known she still had some friends in Nibelheim." He continued to speak not realizing that he had really just let some vital information slip, vital information to Tifa at least.

Naruto raised an eyebrow at Zangan's statement before shrugging the thought off he'd ponder about that later. He simply looked at Tifa, for quick second cerulean eyes met ruby eyes for a second before the brunette averted her eyes quickly.

Yeah he'd definitely be asking her about it later.

"So Tifa you wanted to see me?" The martial arts master asked changing the subject, much to Tifa's relief.

"I was just wondering if I could train a little bit." She answered shifting her body a little bit in the progress in order to have as little eye contact with Naruto as possible.

"Sorry I'm not feeling too good… maybe tomorrow." The old master said as gave the two one last look before leaving.

Tifa simply nodded with a sigh before running, albeit rushing, out. Naruto quickly followed in her footsteps but by the time he had made it outside she was nowhere to be found.

"Where did she go?" Naruto asked out loud to himself. Something was definitely up with Tifa.

-Break-

"Well did you check ?" Tifa's father questioned as he began cooking on the stove.

" ?" Naruto plainly questioned. He looked EVERYWHERE, the shops, inns, and even other people's houses (Perks of being a ninja), yet the Uzumaki hadn't found the female Lockheart.

Though now Naruto could be seen face faulting at his own idiocy, it was literally the only place he hadn't thought of looking.

"She usually goes there when she feeling sad." Brian Lockheart continued, his face now carried a slightly solemn look. The ex-shinobi nodded at the helpful information before standing up and leaving, continuing his search for the female fighter.

-Break-

"There you are." Naruto said as he approached the girl who remained silent. "I've been looking all over for you." The Uzumaki, who was oblivious to her strange silence, continued. As he continued to move towards Tifa, who had her back turned to face him, he could what appeared to be a grave stone.

_Amber Lockheart… XXXX-1995_

Naruto's eyes moved down towards the ground where a small picture frame sat just a little far ways away from the grave stone. In the picture were three people… one was what appeared to be 8-Year-Old Tifa. The second person who was holding Tifa in the air by her right arm was Brian Lockheart. And the third person… was a female had a striking resemblance to Tifa.

She had the same brown hair which extended down to her waist, the same ruby red eyes it was all the same!

That's when it finally hit him.

"That's her mother." This was the one thought that phased into Naruto's mind. His eyes softened as he looked back at her and put a hand on her shoulder only to have it quickly shrugged away.

"Leave me alone." Tifa quietly said with a small tint of venom leaking out of her voice. Tilting her head to the side she maneuvered her so that her eyes were hidden to the ex-shinobi.

"So that must be your mother huh?" Naruto questioned taking a seat beside her, Tifa's eyes still hidden to him.

"…"

"She looks just like you." Naruto commented once again hoping to get a reaction out of her. Unlike his last attempt he actually managed to get the slightest of reactions.

Tifa moved her head so slightly that her eyes were now visible to the blond. Now looking past the ruby red color Naruto could see no anger in her eyes instead he could see sadness and grief. There was something off about it though… he could almost swear that he had seen the look in her eyes somewhere before… he once had those eyes.

It was no secret that Naruto Uzumaki's childhood wasn't fairly enjoyable especially the beginning part as his life got better further down his life. But before that he didn't have any friends and he was sad but did anyone, albeit most people care? No. So he did the only thing he could. This was bottling all those emotions away.

But that wasn't the end.

He wanted to show that he wasn't sad even though he really was by first getting everyone's attention. This was through doing the best pranks that he could! Though eventually along the way he fell in love with the art of pranks (Which would seem pretty cheesy if you'd ask anyone else but it was really a special place in his heart.) He was no longer sad and the more pranks he did the happier he got. He even made his first few friends through them, Shikamaru, Choji, and Kiba.

So in the end what exactly did he learn? He learned that bottling up emotions was never the right thing, it was one thing to hide them from people but it was another to hold it all in for a long time and from what he could see in Tifa he was willing to bet all the money he had (Even though he didn't have any ironically.) and guess that Tifa had been holding her emotions for a few YEARS.

This was going to be tougher than he thought.

He sighed deeply. "So was what the old man said about you having no friends true?" He questioned gaining a very serious tone and demeanor.

The female martial artist turned her head away quickly allowing her to slightly push across his face as if to further her speechless statement.

"Come on I know what you're trying to do and it's not right." He quickly replied not allowing her previous actions to waver his spirits one bit.

"… What would you know?" She said a little louder than her last sentence. Her voice now gave off a slightly more furious tone but Naruto could tell it was a fake one.

"A lot actually… want to hear it?" He replied with a small smile seeing as he was now making progress.

Tifa turned to him with a slight look of curiosity written on her face, so with really nothing better to do she nodded.

-Break-

Naruto and Tifa could now be seen laughing under the full moon. About two hours had passed and after The Uzumaki told his story (From his childhood up to the Kage Summit, though he hadn't told her that he was even from Gaia.) And afterwards the Lockheart had shared her own story a little reluctantly.

It was odd though right? It not every day that you tell your life story to someone especially some you've just met the other day but Naruto thought it was pretty necessary. He didn't want to leave anyone "alone" and he definitely didn't want them to bottle up their emotions continuously. He learned that bottling emotions was terrible the hard way but it was only because his love of pranks that he began to show his true emotions to people.

"Iruka-Sensei was so mad at us that when we got back from the field trip he made us watch everyone eat Ichiraku Ramen while we hung upside down." Naruto informed with a grin. Once again he and Tifa shared a laugh before the brunette abruptly stopped in her tracks and began sweating bullets.

"Eh?"

Naruto's face quickly changed to a panicked one as he began sweating too; approaching them Brian Lockheart and he didn't exactly look happy.

"I've been looking all over for you." The father said with a few deep breaths as he tried to hold in his rage. "Naruto?"

"Uh Yes?" The Uzumaki hesitantly replied.

"If you're going to try anything at least do it safely." The father said giving a goofy smile along with the words.

Naruto face palmed at the father's antics while hiding a large blush. Why did everyone think that if he was alone with a girl he'd try to do the unnecessary? Meanwhile Tifa was blushing just as brightly and maybe a little more. The color of the blush which was currently on their face would make a Habanero proud.

"Well it's getting late let's go home. Brian stated with a slight yawn as he allowed Naruto and Tifa to get ahead of him. He took a short glance over to the grave stone and smiled as he looked back to Naruto and Tifa.

'Amber… I think she's finally opening up again.'

**A/N: And that's a wrap. This chapter was actually meant to come out by a week after the first chapter but I got really lazy. **

**Moving on though I'll give some insight on the techniques Naruto currently has. Futon should be self-explanatory; Katon and Mokuton will be explained as the story progress. For these Naruto will necessarily starts with most of the basics and learn the more advanced techniques as the story continues. The only exception to this is Futon since he has a large experience with it.**

**As for Senjutsu he will be able to access Sage Mode but don't expect him to pop it out any second. In order to access Sage Mode you need to use Nature Chakra with no chakra on Gaia… I'll just leave it at that for now**

**As for Fuinjutsu… that's a more complicated subject for down the road.**

**And finally for the stuff about Tifa's mother there is no official name for her so I just gave the name Amber since I thought it really just seemed right. **

**That's pretty much it so thanks for all your support and as always KEEP IT UP! :)**


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